Recently, Professor Peter Neumann, the director of the International Center for the Study of Radicalization at King’s College London, has pointed out the significance of what the U.S. has done in Syria for the Muslim world. Newser.com reports that

the Syrian conflict has sparked the most significant mobilization of foreign fighters since the 1980s war in Afghanistan against the Soviet occupation, where up to 20,000 foreigners participated over the course of a decade. Al-Qaeda and other jihadist networks came out of the Afghan war, and with the Syrian conflict now forging new networks, Neumann says he believes that “out of that foreign fighter mobilization, over the course of the next generation there will be terrorist attacks.”

Neumann—who did not give a breakdown on how many foreigners were fighting for ISIS, or for the al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front or other armed groups like the Free Syrian Army—says Tunisia has sent the largest number of foreign fighters to Syria, up to 3,000. Saudi Arabia’s government has given two estimates—1,200 and 2,500 Saudi fighters—while Morocco and Jordan each have about 1,500. Among Western countries, there are about 700 foreign fighters from France, more than 500 from Britain, 400 from Germany, 300 from Belgium, and 100 from the United States, Neumann says. “If you take into account per capita population, the most heavily affected countries are [Belgium], the Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries—Denmark, Sweden, Norway—which are small countries but have produced 50 to 100 fighters each,” he adds.

So by our interference we have drawn out radical Jihadists from all over the world. Now they have met one another. Now they have received training. Now they have supplies.

Pretty brilliant work for the protection of U.S. citizens to once again create conditions that, in Afghanistan, led to the attacks that happened thirteen years ago.